DOCSLIB.ORG

Alpine Grasshopper Melanoplus Alpinus Scudder

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Alpine Grasshopper Melanoplus Alpinus Scudder Wyoming_________________________________________________________________________________________ Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912 • Species Fact Sheet March 1996 Alpine Grasshopper Melanoplus alpinus Scudder Distribution and Habitat reported to feed on grasses. In Idaho, crop content The geographic range of the alpine grasshopper is examinations show it to feed evenly on forbs and located in northwestern North America. It inhabits the grasses; in Colorado, 69 percent of its diet is forbs and grass-forb meadows and parklands of the Rocky Mountains 18 percent grasses; in southern Wyoming, 77 percent and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the United States, forbs and 12 percent grasses; and in northern Wyoming, altitudes of its habitats range from 6,400 feet in Montana to 93 percent forbs and 7 percent grasses. 11,000 feet in Colorado. In Canada, the species lives not Direct observations of the grasshoppers feeding in only in mountain meadows and parklands but also in their natural habitat west of Laramie, Wyoming totaled foothill habitats as low as 3,200 feet. 13 bouts on Arenaria congesta,13onPoa spp., and 9 on Taraxacum laevigatum. Average times spent feeding on these plants were A. congesta, 3 minutes; Poa spp., 1.8 minutes; and T. laevigatum 1.8 minutes. These results suggest that A. congesta was the preferred food plant. In a northern Colorado mountain meadow, A. fendleri served as the chief food plant. Crops of the alpine grasshopper contained 35 percent of this plant on both 10 and 23 August 1967 (Table 1). The number of food items per crop is of importance to the nutrition of grasshoppers; laboratory tests have shown increased weight, survival, and egg production of individuals among several species of Melanoplus when fed more than one kind of food plant. Adults of the alpine grasshopper usually contain more than one species of host plant in their crops. Collected Geographic range of Melanoplus alpinus Scudder from a meadow of the Laramie range, males contained an average of 1.2 items and females 3.2 items. Collected Economic Importance from a meadow of the Big Horn Mountains, males The alpine grasshopper, a common resident of contained an average of 1.8 items and females 2.4 items. mountain meadows, has a history of low densities and no These differences between the sexes were statistically documented outbreaks. Researchers of the species consider significant. it to be a minor pest during some years and often a Dispersal and Migration beneficial insect due to its feeding on competing weeds and Possessing long wings and developed wing poisonous plants such as locoweed and lupine. Populations muscles, the alpine grasshopper is able to fly evasively in Wyoming meadows have ranged in density from less and to disperse. Within the center of its distribution in than 0.1 to 3.7 adults per square yard. Because the alpine the Big Horn Mountains of northern Wyoming, the grasshopper feeds readily on Idaho fescue, it is considered a species inhabits a high percentage of the available potentially competitive pest with livestock on summer montane meadows, which suggests effective dispersal. range, particularly during droughts when forage is in short Additional evidence for dispersal was the collection of supply. one adult male on 5 September 1995 in a Food Habits bunchgrass-sagebrush habitat lying at an altitude of 7,300 feet - a foothill locale atypical for the species. The alpine grasshopper feeds on both forbs and None of the species was collected in this site on 3 grasses, and will eat fungi and injured or dead arthropods. August 1995 nor in the previous year on 25 July 1994. About 26 species of forbs, 11 grasses, and 2 sedges are On the other hand, no adults have been found in known to be ingested. Preferred forbs include Arenaria grasshopper glaciers with other species that inhabit congesta, Arenaria fendleri, Astragalus adsurgens, Lupinus montane meadows, a fact suggesting that the alpine laxiflorus, Oxytropis campestris, Musineon tenuifolium, and grasshopper disperses primarily by short, low flights. Taraxacum laevigatum. Preferred grasses include Poa spp., When flushed, the adult alpine grasshopper appears Elymus lanceolatus, Festuca idahoensis, and Stipa more often to jump than to fly. Nymphs (instar V) and occidentalis. Over its geographic range the alpine adults jump from 4 inches to 3 feet at air temperatures grasshopper subsists on different diets. In Canada it is of 46° to 70°F. Adults fly short distances at 1 Common___________________________________________________________ Western Grasshoppers Instar 1 Figures 1-5. Appearance of the five nymphal instars of Melanoplus alpinus - their sizes, structures, and color patterns. Notice progressive development of the wing pads. BL = body length, FL = hind femur length, AS = antennal segments number. temperatures of 54° to 70°F. The flight is low and silent. 1. BL 4.5-5.2 mm FL 2.3-2.6 mm AS 13. Identification Instar 2 The alpine grasshopper is a medium-sized, long-winged species (Fig. 6 and 7). Head, thorax, and tegmen are usually gray but may range in color to shades of light tan. The venter and sides of the abdomen are cream colored. The dark dorsal stripe of the hind femur is continuous and may fill most of the medial area, often the stripe has a wedge-shaped mark dorsally in the middle; the lower medial area is pale gray or tan (Fig. 8). The upper marginal area is tan and 2. BL 5.1-7 mm FL 3.3-3.9 mm AS 15. marked by three black transverse bars. The hind tibia is green, blue, or pink. The male cercus is bifurcate, the Instar 3 dorsal arm is stubby and blunt, and the ventral arm is sharply pointed and both arms bend medially (Fig. 9). The smaller Melanoplus infantilis, which often resides alongside the alpine grasshopper in mountain meadows, has a similar bifurcate cercus, but the lower arm ends in a rounded blunt tip and does not bend toward the median (compare the two). The nymphs are identifiable by their color patterns, shape, and structures (Fig. 1-5). The early nymphs and 3. BL 8.1-9.2 mm FL 5-5.4 mm AS 17-18. some of the late nymphs are recognizable in the field by Instar 4 their green bodies, dark compound eyes, and prominent dark dorsal stripe of the hind femur. 1. Head with face nearly vertical and colored plain green, often tan in older instars; ridges of frontal costa and preocular ridges spotted brown; a black bar is present on the side of the head behind the compound eye. 2. Pronotal disk with dusky band, which is spotted brown and present on each side; the band continues onto the meso-and metanotum or the 4. BL 9.2-12 mm FL 6.6-7.7 mm AS 18-21. wing pads of older instars and to the end of the Instar 5 abdomen. The venter of the thorax and abdomen is green or pale tan, sometimes with pale brown spots. 3. The hind femur is green or tan and has a prominent dark dorsal stripe, often with a light dorsal wedge in the middle. The lower medial area and the lower marginal area are pale green or pale tan. The upper marginal area is green or tan. 4. Nymphs may change body color when they 5. BL 13-15 mm FL 8.4-10.3 mm AS 21-23. undergo metamorphosis. All specimens are green in instar I. In Instar II approximately 85 2 ___________________________________________________________Pfadt: Alpine grasshopper, Melanoplus alpinus Scudder March 1996 Figures 6-10. Appearance of the adult male and female of Male Melanoplus alpinus, left hindleg of adult female, male cercus, and eggs and egg pod. percent are green and 15 percent are cream or pale tan; in instars III and IV approximately 52 percent are green and 48 percent are cream or pale tan; in instar V approximately 20 percent are green and 80 6. BL 17.5-18.5 mm FL 10.7-11.2 mm AS 23-25. percent are tan. Female Hatching Before eggs of the alpine grasshopper will hatch, they require a long developmental period in the soil. A study of eggs laid in the Big Horn Mountains of Montana and Wyoming revealed that the majority of eggs (92 percent) required three years of development before hatching and a smaller number (8 percent), two years. None hatched in one year; the eggs laid in one summer were unable to hatch the following spring. The cause for the delay is 7. BL 20.5-24 mm FL 12-13.2 mm AS 22-24. unknown but may be due to both cold temperatures of Hindleg mountain soils and to an extended diapause of the embryos. In mountain meadows of Wyoming, eggs of the alpine grasshopper start hatching from early to late June. The precise time depends on seasonal temperatures that affect snow melt and the thawing and warming of the soil. The period of hatching is short, ranging from 6 to 17 days. Nymphal Development In spite of cold night temperatures and frequent cold 8. Hindleg of female showing yellow wedge in dorsal rains in the mountain environment, nymphs of the alpine stripe. grasshopper develop rapidly to the adult stage. During the Cercus day in their meadow habitats, they bask in the warming rays of the sun and then at night they seek shelter in ground litter and crowns of grass insulating themselves from night air temperatures that range from 34° to 53°F. Nymphal periods have been found to last from 25 to 40 days. The shortest period of 25 days occurred in 1955 in a meadow lying at 9,800 feet in the Snowy Range west of Laramie, Wyoming.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Literature Cited
    LITERATURE CITED Abercrombie, M., C. J. Hichman, and M. L. Johnson. 1962. A Dictionary of Biology. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. Adkisson, C. S. 1996. Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). In The Birds of North America, No. 256 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and the American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C. Agee, J. K. 1993. Fire ecology of Pacific Northwest forests. Island Press, Covelo, CA. Albert, S. K., N. Luna, and A. L. Chopito. 1995. Deer, small mammal, and songbird use of thinned piñon–juniper plots: preliminary results. Pages 54–64 in Desired future conditions for piñon–juniper ecosystems (D. W. Shaw, E. F. Aldon, and C. LaSapio, eds.). Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR–RM–258. Fort Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Aldrich, J. W. 1946. New subspecies of birds from western North America. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 59:129–136. Aldrich, J. W. 1963. Geographic orientation of American Tetraonidae. Journal of Wildlife Management 27:529–545. Allen, R. K. 1984. A new classification of the subfamily Ephemerellinae and the description of a new genus. Pan–Pacific Entomologist 60(3): 245–247. Allen, R. K., and G. F. Edmunds, Jr. 1976. A revision of the genus Ametropus in North America (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 49:625–635. Allen, R. P. 1958. A progress report on the wading bird survey. National Audubon Society, unpubl. rep., Tavernier, FL. American Ornithologists’ Union. 1931. Check–list of North American birds. 4th ed. American Ornithologists’ Union, Lancaster, PA.
    [Show full text]
  • Locusts in Queensland
    LOCUSTS Locusts in Queensland PEST STATUS REVIEW SERIES – LAND PROTECTION by C.S. Walton L. Hardwick J. Hanson Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the many people who provided information for this assessment. Clyde McGaw, Kevin Strong and David Hunter, from the Australian Plague Locust Commission, are also thanked for the editorial review of drafts of the document. Cover design: Sonia Jordan Photographic credits: Natural Resources and Mines staff ISBN 0 7345 2453 6 QNRM03033 Published by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Qld. February 2003 Information in this document may be copied for personal use or published for educational purposes, provided that any extracts are fully acknowledged. Land Protection Department of Natural Resources and Mines GPO Box 2454, Brisbane Q 4000 #16401 02/03 Contents 1.0 Summary ................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Taxonomy.................................................................................................................. 2 3.0 History ....................................................................................................................... 3 3.1 Outbreaks across Australia ........................................................................................ 3 3.2 Outbreaks in Queensland........................................................................................... 3 4.0 Current and predicted distribution ........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Little Spurthroated Grasshopper Melanoplus Infantilis Scudder
    Wyoming_________________________________________________________________________________________ Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912 • Species Fact Sheet September 1994 Little Spurthroated Grasshopper Melanoplus infantilis Scudder Distribution and Habitat Large populations infest regions of bunchgrass-sagebrush in Idaho where densities may reach The little spurthroated grasshopper has a wide geographic 20 to 40 per square yard in outbreak years. This species range in Western North America. It occurs in grasslands, often confined in field cages on western wheatgrass in Montana, as the dominant grasshopper, from the Canadian provinces to caused a loss of 35 mg dry weight of forage per adult northern New Mexico. It is common in clearings of montane grasshopper per day. This amount was less than that caused coniferous forest and in the parklands of the Canadian northern by an adult big-headed grasshopper, Aulocara elliotti, forest. In Colorado, it is found in montane grasslands as high as which caused a loss of 62 mg per day. The reason for this 10,000 feet. Its northern geographic range and its distribution difference is no doubt related to the difference in weight of in montane habitats indicate tolerance for colder temperate the two species. The larger grasshopper, which requires climates and intolerance for warmer conditions. more food, caused the greater damage. Unconfined in its natural habitat, the little spurthroated grasshopper may be Economic Importance even less damaging because it feeds on forbs as well as This grasshopper is an economically important species, grasses. becoming abundant in grasslands and feeding on both grasses and forbs. In a rangeland assemblage it is sometimes the Food Habits dominant grasshopper. During 1953 it was the dominant The little spurthroated grasshopper feeds on both species in 11 of 42 sites sampled in the mixedgrass prairie of grasses and forbs.
    [Show full text]
  • (Orthoptera, Caelifera, Acrididae) on the Subfamily Level Using Molecular Markers
    e-ISSN 1734-9168 Folia Biologica (Kraków), vol. 67 (2019), No 3 http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/en/folia-biologica.html https://doi.org/10.3409/fb_67-3.12 The Evaluation of Genetic Relationships within Acridid Grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Caelifera, Acrididae) on the Subfamily Level Using Molecular Markers Igor SUKHIKH , Kirill USTYANTSEV , Alexander BUGROV, Michael SERGEEV, Victor FET, and Alexander BLINOV Accepted August 20, 2019 Published online September 11, 2019 Issue online September 30, 2019 Original article SUKHIKH I., USTYANTSEV K., BUGROV A., SERGEEV M., FET V., BLINOV A. 2019. The evaluation of genetic relationships within Acridid grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Caelifera, Acrididae) on the subfamily level using molecular markers. Folia Biologica (Kraków) 67: 119-126. Over the last few decades, molecular markers have been extensively used to study phylogeny, population dynamics, and genome mapping in insects and other taxa. Phylogenetic methods using DNA markers are inexpensive, fast and simple to use, and may help greatly to resolve phylogenetic relationships in groups with problematic taxonomy. However, different markers have various levels of phylogenetic resolution, and it’s important to choose the right set of molecular markers for a studied taxonomy level. Acrididae is the most diverse family of grasshoppers. Many attempts to resolve the phylogenetic relationships within it did not result in a clear picture, partially because of the limited number of molecular markers used. We have tested a phylogenetic resolution of three sets of the most commonly utilized mitochondrial molecular markers available for Acrididae sequences in the database: (i) complete protein-coding mitochondrial sequences, (ii) concatenated mitochondrial genes COI, COII, and Cytb, and (iii) concatenated mitochondrial genes COI and COII.
    [Show full text]
  • Spur-Throated Grasshoppers of the Canadian Prairies and Northern Great Plains
    16 Spur-throated grasshoppers of the Canadian Prairies and Northern Great Plains Dan L. Johnson Research Scientist, Grassland Insect Ecology, Lethbridge Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Box 3000, Lethbridge, AB T1J 4B1, [email protected] The spur-throated grasshoppers have become the most prominent grasshoppers of North Ameri- can grasslands, not by calling attention to them- selves by singing in the vegetation (stridulating) like the slant-faced grasshoppers, or by crackling on the wing (crepitating) like the band-winged grasshoppers, but by virtue of their sheer num- bers, activities and diversity. Almost all of the spur-throated grasshoppers in North America are members of the subfamily Melanoplinae. The sta- tus of Melanoplinae is somewhat similar in South America, where the melanopline Dichroplus takes the dominant role that the genus Melanoplus pated, and hiding in the valleys?) scourge that holds in North America (Cigliano et al. 2000). wiped out so much of mid-western agriculture in The biogeographic relationships are analysed by the 1870’s. Chapco et al. (2001). The grasshoppers are charac- terized by a spiny bump on the prosternum be- Approximately 40 species of grasshoppers in tween the front legs, which would be the position the subfamily Melanoplinae (mainly Tribe of the throat if they had one. This characteristic is Melanoplini) can be found on the Canadian grass- easy to use; I know elementary school children lands, depending on weather and other factors af- who can catch a grasshopper, turn it over for a fecting movement and abundance. The following look and say “melanopline” before grabbing the notes provide a brief look at representative next.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Brill.Com09/24/2021 02:27:59AM Via Free Access T  E,  147, 2004
    1 2 FER WILLEMSE & SIGFRID INGRISCH 1 Eygelshoven, The Netherlands 2 Bad Karlshafen, Germany A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF ACRIDIDAE FROM SOUTH INDIA (ORTHOPTERA, ACRIDOIDEA) Willemse, F. & S. Ingrisch 2004. A new genus and species of Acrididae from South India (Or- thoptera, Acridoidea). – Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 147: 191-196, figs. 1-22. [ISSN 0040- 7496]. Published 1 December 2004. Nathanacris quadrimaculata gen. et sp. n. is described from Anaimalai Hills in South India. The systematic position of this acridid genus is not yet clear. For the time being we propose to arrange the genus under the unclassified group of Catantopinae sensu lato. Dr. Fer Willemse (corresponding author), Laurastraat 67, Eygelshoven 6471 JH, The Nether- lands. E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Sigfrid Ingrisch, Eichendorffweg 4, D-34385 Bad Karlshafen, Germany. E-mail: sigfrid.in- [email protected] Key words. – Orthoptera, Acrididae, Catantopinae (s.l.), South India. Major contributions to the Acrididae fauna of than wide, in female a little shorter than wide, in male South India were provided by Bolívar (1902), Hebard lateral margins almost parallel and converging towards (1929), Uvarov (1929), Henry (1940), Muralirangan widely rounded apex, in female lateral margins short et al. (1992) and Shrinivasan & Muralirangan (1992). and apical margin semicircular (figs. 2, 7); in lateral Nevertheless our knowledge of the grasshopper fauna view tip angularly merging with frons, foveolae obso- of south India is still insufficient, particularly of lete or scarcely recognisable as elongate triangular fur- species living in natural habitats and commonly dis- rows. Frontal ridge projecting slightly between anten- tributed over small areas.
    [Show full text]
  • A Spur-Throat Grasshopper (Melanoplus Lemhiensis)
    A Spur-throat Grasshopper Melanoplus lemhiensis Insecta — Orthoptera — Acrididae CONSERVATION STATUS / CLASSIFICATION Rangewide: Critically imperiled/Imperiled (G1G2) Statewide: Critically imperiled (S1) ESA: No status USFS: Region 1: No status; Region 4: No status BLM: No status IDFG: Not classified BASIS FOR INCLUSION Lack of essential information pertaining to status; Idaho endemic. TAXONOMY Hebard (1935) considered this species to be morphologically similar to M. artemisiae and M. salmonis. Hebard (1935) reported that both M. idaho and M. lemhiensis were collected on the same date and at the same location and that he did not recognize, in the field, that the observed male and female M. idaho individuals were different from M. lemhiensis. In later examination and description of both new species, M. idaho and M. lemhiensis, Hebard placed M. idaho in the montanus species group and M. lemhiensis in the artemisiae species group. Strohecker (1963) retained M. lemhiensis in the artemisiae species group. DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE This grasshopper is endemic to Idaho. The taxon is known from 1 locality in Lemhi County. No record of this species since its original collection during 1928 (Hebard 1935) is known. POPULATION TREND No data are available to suggest population trend. The species has not been recorded since 1928. HABITAT AND ECOLOGY Hebard (1935) reported that the series of specimens he collected were “secured on steep slopes of rock fragments thickly overgrown with sagebrush. The species was common only on the steepest upper slopes where there were many tufts of a fine, dry, yellow grass. The insect is a powerful though slow leaper …, but instead of immediately jumping into another bush individuals usually leaped about in the open and were consequently much easier to capture.
    [Show full text]
  • The Taxonomy of Utah Orthoptera
    Great Basin Naturalist Volume 14 Number 3 – Number 4 Article 1 12-30-1954 The taxonomy of Utah Orthoptera Andrew H. Barnum Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation Barnum, Andrew H. (1954) "The taxonomy of Utah Orthoptera," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 14 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol14/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. IMUS.COMP.ZSOL iU6 1 195^ The Great Basin Naturalist harvard Published by the HWIilIijM i Department of Zoology and Entomology Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah Volum e XIV DECEMBER 30, 1954 Nos. 3 & 4 THE TAXONOMY OF UTAH ORTHOPTERA^ ANDREW H. BARNUM- Grand Junction, Colorado INTRODUCTION During the years of 1950 to 1952 a study of the taxonomy and distribution of the Utah Orthoptera was made at the Brigham Young University by the author under the direction of Dr. Vasco M. Tan- ner. This resulted in a listing of the species found in the State. Taxonomic keys were made and compiled covering these species. Distributional notes where available were made with the brief des- criptions of the species. The work was based on the material in the entomological col- lection of the Brigham Young University, with additional records obtained from the collection of the Utah State Agricultural College.
    [Show full text]
  • ARTICULATA 1993 8(2): 1 -22 SYSTEMATIK to the Knowledge Of
    ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Articulata - Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Orthopterologie e.V. DGfO Jahr/Year: 1993 Band/Volume: 8_2_1993 Autor(en)/Author(s): Storozhenko Sergey Artikel/Article: To the knowledge of the tribe Melanoplini (Orthoptera, Acrididae: Catantopinae) of the Eastern Palearctlca 1-22 Deutschen Gesellschaft für Orthopterologie e.V.; download http://www.dgfo-articulata.de/ ARTICULATA 1993 8(2): 1 -22 SYSTEMATIK To the knowledge of the tribe Melanoplini (Orthoptera, Acrididae: Catantopinae) of the Eastern Palearctlca Sergey Storozhenko Abstract Data on the grasshoppers of the tribe Melanoplini SCUDDER, 1897 (= Podismini JACOBSON, 1905 = Parapodisminae INOUE, 1985, syn. n) of Eastern Palearctica are given. Podisma kanoi sp. n. and Podisma sapporensis ashibetsuensis ssp. n. from Japan are described. The new synonyms are established: Rhinopodisma MISTSHENKO, 1954 = Aserratus HUANG, 1981, syn. n., Sinopodisma CHANG, 1940 = Pedopodisma ZHENG, 1980, syn. n., Parapodisma MISTSHENKO, 1947 = Pseudoparapodisma INOUE, 1985, syn. n., Monopterus FISCHER-WALDHEIM, 1846 = Bohemanella RAMME, 1951, syn.n. Tribe Melanoplini SCUDDER, 1897 Type genus: Melanoplus STAL, 1873. Notes The tribe Melanoplini was established by S.SCUDDER (1897) as a group Melanopli. JACOBSON (1905) proposed Podismini as a new name for this group. In the most modem classification the position of tribe Melanoplini is following: MISTSHENKO (1952) considered it as a tribe Podismini of subfamily Catanto­ pinae (Acrididae); UVAROV (1966) as Catantopinae (without division on tribes); DIRSH (1975) as subfamily Podisminae of family Catantopidae; HARZ (1975) as tribe Podismini of subfamily Catantopinae (Acrididae); VICKERY & KEVAN (1983) as subfamily Melanoplinae of family Acrididae with two tribes (Melanoplini and Podismini) and YIN (1984) as subfamily Podisminae of family Oedipodidae.
    [Show full text]
  • The Feasibility of Use of Caecal and Diverticular Coloration in Field Determination of Grasshopper Diet
    The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 4 Number 1 -- Spring 1971 Number 1 -- Spring Article 4 1971 July 2017 The Feasibility of Use of Caecal and Diverticular Coloration in Field Determination of Grasshopper Diet Michael Tyrkus Wayne State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Tyrkus, Michael 2017. "The Feasibility of Use of Caecal and Diverticular Coloration in Field Determination of Grasshopper Diet," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 4 (1) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol4/iss1/4 This Peer-Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. Tyrkus: The Feasibility of Use of Caecal and Diverticular Coloration in F THE MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGIST Vol. 4, No. 1 THE FEASIBILITY OF USE OF CAECAL AND DIVERTICULAR COLORATION IN FIELD DETERMINATION OF GRASSHOPPER DIET',' Michael Tyrkus Department of Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202 INTRODUCTION Many studies have been undertaken in the past on the food selection, food preferences, and economic damage of various grasshoppers and their allies. Among the more salient of these researches are those of Anderson (1961, 1964); Ball (1 936); Bindra (1958); Boldyrev (1928); Blackith and Blackith (1966); Brues (1946); Chapman (1957); Dibble (1940); Gangwere (1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1965a, 1966, 1966a, 1967);Husain etal. (1946); Isely (1938, 1946); Isely and Alexander (1949); Joyce (1952); Mulkern and Anderson (1959); Mulkern, Anderson, and Brusven (1962); Mulkern et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Forms of Melanoplus Bowditchi (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Collected from Different Host Plants Are Indistinguishable Genetically and in Aedeagal Morphology
    Forms of Melanoplus bowditchi (Orthoptera: Acrididae) collected from diVerent host plants are indistinguishable genetically and in aedeagal morphology Muhammad Irfan Ullah1,4 , Fatima Mustafa1,5 , Kate M. Kneeland1, Mathew L. Brust2, W. Wyatt Hoback3,6 , Shripat T. Kamble1 and John E. Foster1 1 Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA 2 Department of Biology, Chadron State College, Chadron, NE, USA 3 Department of Biology, University of Nebraska, Kearney, NE, USA 4 Current aYliation: Department of Entomology, University of Sargodha, Pakistan 5 Current aYliation: Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan 6 Current aYliation: Entomology and Plant Pathology Department, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA ABSTRACT The sagebrush grasshopper, Melanoplus bowditchi Scudder (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a phytophilous species that is widely distributed in the western United States on sagebrush species. The geographical distribution of M. bowditchi is very similar to the range of its host plants and its feeding association varies in relation to sagebrush dis- tribution. Melanoplus bowditchi bowditchi Scudder and M. bowditchi canus Hebard were described based on their feeding association with diVerent sagebrush species, sand sagebrush and silver sagebrush, respectively. Recently, M. bowditchi have been observed feeding on other plant species in western Nebraska. We collected adult M. bowditchi feeding on four plant species, sand sagebrush, Artemisia filifolia, big sagebrush, A. tridentata, fringed sagebrush, A. frigidus, and winterfat, Kraschenin- Submitted 10 January 2014 nikovia lanata. We compared the specimens collected from the four plant species for Accepted 17 May 2014 Published 10 June 2014 their morphological and genetic diVerences. We observed no consistent diVerences among the aedeagal parameres or basal rings among the grasshoppers collected Corresponding author W.
    [Show full text]
  • D:\Grasshopper CD\Pfadts\Pdfs\Vpfiles
    Wyoming_________________________________________________________________________________________ Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912 • Species Fact Sheet March 1996 Bruner Slantfaced Grasshopper Bruneria brunnea (Thomas) Distribution and Habitat survey of Wyoming grasslands were low and economically insignificant; 118 of 148 (80 percent) sites surveyed The Bruner slantfaced grasshopper (also known as contained less than one grasshopper per square yard. Stenobothrus brunneus) ranges widely in the hills and Although no experimental study of damage to forage has mountains of the northwestern United States. It lives in the been made, estimates may be made from the weights of mixedgrass and bunchgrass prairies, in mountain meadows and adults. Live weights of males collected from a mountain parklands, and in alpine tundra. In the northern mixedgrass meadow in the Laramie Range averaged 223 mg and prairie its distribution extends into eastern North Dakota and females 376 mg (dry weights: males 46 mg, females 96 southwestern Manitoba, where populations are small and local mg). on suitable hillsides. Altitudes of its known habitats range from 1,600 to 11,100 feet. Food Habits The Bruner slantfaced grasshopper feeds on grasses and sedges. The precise diet depends on plants available in its widespread habitats. Observations in Canada indicate that in the northern mixedgrass prairie it feeds on species of Agropyron, Bouteloua, Carex, Koeleria, and Stipa.In Wyoming, examination of crop contents of Bruner slantfaced grasshoppers collected from two mountain meadows, one in the southern Laramie Range and the other in the northern Big Horn Mountains, revealed that the grasshoppers had fed on mountain grasses and sedges (Table 1). The results suggest that certain grasses and sedges are selected as host plants including Idaho fescue, spikefescue, thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), needleandthread, rock sedge, and threadleaf sedge.
    [Show full text]